The Emergency Relief Coordinator tweeted that UN teams are being “supported by expertise across our global network” and the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund would be mobilised as needed.

News reports quoting sources in the Burmese city of Mandalay, close to the epicentre of the quake, indicate that hundreds have died. In neighbouring Thailand more than 80 construction workers are missing, according to the Thai deputy prime minister, with a search and rescue operation underway.

‘Significant damage’

The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Myanmar told UN News in a statement that reports indicate “significant damage” has occurred in Mandalay state, as well as Nay Pyi Taw, Bago, Magway, Sagaing, Shan “and possibly other areas”.

" Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this event…We are gathering information about the people impacted, infrastructure damage, and immediate humanitarian needs to guide a response and will share more updates as information becomes available."

Speaking from Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon, Marie Manrique, Programme Coordinator for the Myanmar country team of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told journalists at the UN in Geneva that the quake had also been felt in China, Thailand, and India.

She said that beyond damage to buildings and infrastructure, there was concern over potential dam bursts. Electricity and communications have been cut off in parts of the country.

She said the Myanmar Red Cross Society had launched an emergency operation to help people in need and assess the situation.

Myanmar has been in the grip of an increasingly brutal civil war since a military coup more than four years ago. Around 20 million people – a third of the population are expected to need humanitarian assistance this year. Around 15 million are projected to face acute food insecurity during 2025.

Fighting between junta forces and opposition armed groups has displaced more than 3.5 million people within the country.

Aid operation underway

Speaking for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Dr. Margaret Harris said relief efforts were underway in coordination with country offices in Myanmar and Thailand.

She said the agency had activated its logistics hub in Dubai to primarily provide trauma supplies and a health needs assessment is underway.

Babar Baloch, for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that the central and northwest parts of Myanmar had the highest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) due to the conflict.

Some 1.6 million IDPs out of the total 3.5 million live in these areas and the catastrophe will only exacerbate hardships, he told journalists.

More to come on this developing story…